@Lain: and thank YOU for reading and enjoying the ride. It always makes me so happy to hear that people did not just read my story, but enjoyed it and felt with it, too. ♥

@emmatheemmu: Thank you for your very nice words, they mean the world to me. I am super happy to have contributed to something that people enjoyed reading. Thank you for telling me so.

@snigepippi: I now right, nine years, where did they go?? And thank you. I'm still working on the new story (it's still wonky, at best), but I will try real hard to make it another fun ride (for me and for the readers).

@Kimaysu: Omg Thank you so much for telling me, even if it's been a while since this comic finished (almost a year already oh wow). I'm super glad that you liked it, and also a little proud that you remembered it from years ago, not going to lie =D

I'll take that bad joke as an oportunity to finally tell you how much I've been enjoying your comic so far. I love your stile and I love your worldbuilding and storytelling. Every time you update just makes my day a little brighter.

I'm not good with big words and retrospectives, so I think I'll just leave it as is.
Though, once again, I want to thank each and every one of you, for reading this, for going through the first awful chapters and actually keep on reading until you reached this very point. This is very big for me, bigger than I ever thought it would be, and I am going to be honest here: I am really proud that got this far. I had doubts I'd reach
this one day, and here we are. And YOU are a big part of this, because if YOU weren't reading, then there would have
hardly been any point of putting this here. I know, I know, "draw for yourself" and all that, but to know that you're doing it for someone else, too, is just as big a drive. So thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Heh, speaking of drive: Did you know that this comic spanned over 9 and a half years? That's almost a decade, you guys.

So yeah, what about the future? Well, a lot of very nice people have shown interest in me starting with a new story and I will most probably do so because this whole thing is, all in all, very fun. I like telling stories, and I grow so very attached to my characters, that I just need to tell about them and their adventures.
However, that will have to wait for a little. I need to graduate first, or at the very least, hand in my thesis, which is due in march. Graduation should be somewhere around august/september. We will see. I can predict finger-tingling sensations coming up soon.

How will you find out if I start something new? Well, first, I'll update this page, with a link to it. I am probably going to
keep it on Smackjeeves, mostly because SJ has caused me less trouble than Comicgenesis (haha, when I began this thing, it was still called keenspace, does anyone still remember that?). Besides, I like the idea of having all my comics under the same account, visibly so. So that is a plus, too. So yeah, you might want to keep
an eye on me here. I have a doodle-tumblr as well, and I'll make an anouncement on there for sure, though be warned, there's a LOT of (gay) fan-art on there hahaahahaaaaa~ahem. I might need another one. (for now: almdoodler.tumblr.com )
I'm also always aviable under miru_at_tyo (at) yahoo (dot) com if you're interested. I'm a huge awkward potato, but I promise I'll do my very best to answer anything I get.

And... that's it! I hope you enjoyed your ride (I sure did), and thank you for sticking with me until the very end.
You are the best public I could ever have hoped to have.

A quick rundown, for people who wondered:
The trees don't grow the fruit by themselves, they just serve as 'collectors'. THerefore, Gabe-tree will most probably just bear one single fruit, and that would be Nats' once she dies.
Therefore, Nats' kids will not be linked to the trees either, as there are no fruits on them anymore. Worst case scenario: Nats can't actually have kids. But that's kind of sad, so let's leave that open.

Anyway, to all of you, have a smashing start into the new year! Lots of health and luck to you all
I love you tons.

I'll be honest here and say that one of the main reasons I kept on drawing (other than the whole `I want to tell this story damnit') was that it gave me a reason to draw at least once a week, which was sorely needed once I got into University. I didn't really try to constantly push myself to improve my art though, and honestly, the art on RtE is NOT the best I can do (or else a page would take more than the few hours it does now), but the fact that I cringe at things like my first chapters/the mugshots on that character page (ohgod) really puts my way into perspective for me, as well. As an artist, it's so hard to see your own progress, but here, I have 8 years of constant drawing laid out all in front of me and it's the best proof that yes, constantly doing something will make you better over time.

I learned a lot out of this, not only art wise, but about how I want and can tell a story, thanks to trial and error, but also thanks to people like you who were wonderful with their input and helped me grow, and came to be attached to these characters just as much as I was.

@HaveCare: I like him better with long hair, too~
He went through a phase at one point, where he tried to change every aspect of him he found 'girly', and thus cut the hair short. After a while, he noticed that it just wasn't working out for him, and now he's growing it out again. Give it another coulpe of years, and they'll be back =D

Btw, here you'll find a mini comic of Oni and El flirting. Or... something, I'm not sure. I drew it a year ago, and intended it to use it as a vote incentive around this time, but let's face it, I'm so behind in TWC that I'm not even going to bother anymore haha. SO. Here. Enjoy it without having to feed the system =D